Very often situations may occur when an individual finds himself (herself) in a sitting, standing, or walking position over a long time, and even if the individual's hands are free, it would be very tiring to keep a smartphone, small tablet, or a similar handheld electronic device in the user's hands at a certain distance from the user's yes, e.g., for reading, watching a movie, communicating via Skype (trademark of Skype Limited), etc. A situation is more aggravated when the user's hands are busy and he/she needs to hold, e.g., a smart phone, constantly in front of his/her eyes, e.g., for using a navigator when lost in a forest. There may be a desire to watch a movie when an individual is sitting in a train travelling for hours.
There exists a great variety of various smartphone mounts for cars. However, such devices are not convenient for attaching to the user's body and for supporting a handheld electronic device at a distance convenient for viewing.
Also known, heretofore, are body-wearable supports for hands-free use of handheld electronic devices. For example, US Patent Application Publication No. 20150195392 issued on Jul. 9, 2015 (inventor: I. Nissenbaum) discloses a harness-like wearable cell phone holder enabling stable, hands-free viewing of cell phone screen while the cell phone is supported on the viewer's torso and a method by which a cell phone is utilizable for computer functions. The wearable cell phone holder comprises a rigid flat base element to which a short stand element is attached such as by vacuum attachment. The stand element has an adjustably positioned clamp for holding the cell phone in a wearer viewable position. A lanyard is attached to a proximal side of the base element to support the clamped cell phone by the viewer's neck with the base element resting on the viewer's torso. An adjustable anchoring belt anchors the distal side of the base element against movement during viewing use of the cell phone.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,405,172 issued on Aug. 2, 2016 to F. Cunningham, III, et al. discloses a wearable mount for holding a portable electronic image capture device. The mount includes a base mount comprising an abutment portion configured securely attach the base mount, a cradle assembly attaching to the portable electronic image capture device, and a flexible arm connecting the base mount to the cradle assembly and permitting the user to adjust an orientation of the portable electronic image capture device. The wearable mount is designed to be worn by a user around the waist or slung across the chest, among other configurations. It is envisioned that attachment means for the wearable mount could allow the mount to be worn around the wrist, arm or leg, or slung from the neck. It is further envisioned that various attachment means could allow for other configurations. The design of the wearable mount allows user to position it at any level on the body, to the left or right side of the user, or even in front of or behind the user. The flexible arm is a flexible tubular body with a shape memory, which can be bent to a desired configuration and remain the configured shape and which has a rigidity sufficient to support a small item such as a smart phone.
A Chinese company (east-culture-2008) based in Shanghai is selling a flexible mobile phone holder in the form of a thin flexible shaft with shape memory which can be turned around a user's body (e.g., around the neck) and possesses sufficient rigidity in a deformed shape for holding a mobile phone. The distal end of the flexible shaft has a clip for holding the mobile phone.